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Reading the reviews of Silent Hill on Netflix, it seems that a very large portion of the viewers couldn’t make any sense of the movie at all. The movie didn’t require the viewer to really know or understand any specific backstory (the characters in the movie are all new) but it does help to have a sense for how these stories work and how Silent Hill (the town) operates.

The movie leaves things very open, but below is my own take on it. Massive spoilers follow.

Sometime in the mid 70’s, the town of Silent Hill was a depressed mining community in West Virgina. The town had a major cult / sect / congregation of believers and zealots that were quite strict and fairly harsh. The story is not explicit, but it seems like a large part of the town must have been part of the cult.

Alessa Gilesspe was a young girl (10-ish) who attended the apparently all-girl parochial school. She seemed to be illegitimate. Dahlia, her mother, was raising Alyessa on her own, and refused to identify the father to the increasingly overbearing church elders. It is unclear why they wanted to know this. Perhaps they suspected that the father was a member of their congregation, and they wanted to identify him so they could punish him for adultery / fornication / or general hitting it without the blessing of the elders.

Eventually they concluded that Alessa must be a witch. (I can’t recall what set this off. If anyone remembers please refresh my memory.) The elders decided to “purify” her. The mother wasn’t even sure what this involved, but she didn’t seem to have much choice. Maybe she hoped they would perform some sort of exorcism and leave it at that, and the elders would leave her alone. Dahlia and Alessa were taken to the hotel, Alessa was taken in, and Dahlia was sent away.

It turned out that “purification” had nothing to do with holy water and praying. It was a gool old-fashioned witch burning. Worse, it wasn’t a quick burning, but a slow roasting over hot coals. It was not clear why the cult favored the slower burning, other than the fact they were evil bastards. Alessa was suspended over a fire and roasted alive.

Part way through the ordeal, one of the chains holding her burning contraption in place failed, and hot coals were scattered all over the floor. A fire was started and a lot of the building was burned. The paramedics rescued Alessa in the mayhem (I guess at least some people in the town were not fully loyal to the cult) and she was taken to the hospital.

She was horribly disfigured and in intense pain as she languished in the intensive care unit. Eventually The Devil (or A devil) showed up, and the story gets even more vague. Apparently the devil made a deal with Alessa: “Let me in, and I’ll give you the power to get revenge.” Perhaps it was her youth and innocence that made the deal possible. Perhaps it was something to do with the cult. Whatever it was, she agreed to it and let the devil in.

Shortly after, there was a fire in the coal mine. Poisonous gas erupted and the town had to be evacuated. Many people died. From the outside, it looked like an empty ghost town.

Inside of Silent Hill, Alessa had dragged her enemies into some alternate hell-world copy of Silent Hill. The cult members thought that the Apocalypse had come and the whole world was covered in darkness. For them, it was. They hid in the Church, where their faith would “keep them safe”.

And as it turns out, it did. Alessa could transform the town of Silent Hill into a world of nightmares and darkness which would kill anyone she wished. The problem was that her darkness could not penetrate the church. Their faith really did keep her out.

Thus began a decades long game of cat-and-mouse, where the people would come out of the church in search of food, and Alessa would try to bring the darkness and catch them before they could return. The town would shift between dark Silent Hill (a place of strange fog and the occasional monster) to evil Silent Hill. (A place of pure torment, evil, and darkness.) Birds seemed to sense that the evil was coming a good 30 seconds before the effects were visible to humans, so they took a page from their mining heritage and carried a canary in a cage. When the bird panicked, they would make a run for it.

Meanwhile, in the real world Silent Hill was just a big empty town. There were no people and the fumes from the coal fires made the place too dangerous to live. It is unclear if time passed at the same rate for the cult members trapped in Alessa’s nightmare town, although the story is a bit easier to understand if we think of the nightmare world as more or less timeless. (Otherwise, most cult members should have died of old age, or at the very least be frail and old by now, since most were middle-aged in the mid 70’s.

Back in the real world:

In the mid 90’s a baby was left of the steps of an orphanage. That baby was eventually adopted by Rose and Christopher Da Silva. The girl had nightmares about the town of Silent Hill, although she had never been there. Desperate for a cure (and in order to get the plot going) Rose took their daughter Sharon to Silent Hill in hopes that she could figure out what made the kid so nuts. Rose, Sharon, and a police officer ended up in some sort of crash just outside of Silent Hill in the real world. When they woke up, they were in dark Silent Hill, and there was fog everywhere. Thus begins the movie.

Let’s switch over to Q & A style here:

Q. What was the connection between Alessa and Sharon? Why did they look the same?A. The movie hinted that Sharon was what was left of the little girl Alessa. Like, the devil sort of displaced the little girl… so she, like appeared as a baby? Or something.

This is the big mystery of the movie, and it doesn’t really make sense to me. Alessa got reincarnated, or recreated, and got another chance at life as a new baby. She was adopted by the De Silvas who named her Sharon. But her connection to Alessa made her a very sick kid. As she drew near the age that Alessa was when she was roasted, she began to have nightmares of Silent Hill.

Q. How did Rose, Sharon, and the police officer manage to cross into dark Silent Hill? Other people came into SH from time to time and were never dragged into Alessa’s version of the town.A. Several answers are possible:

Perhaps dark SH is a realm of the dead, and the characters all died in the crash. The only problem with this is that Christopher should have found the SUV with their bodies in it if this was the case. The vehicle was sitting idle in the middle of the only road into town, so it doesn’t seem likely that people in the real world would miss it.

They were all knocked out during the crash. Perhaps it was breathing the poisoned fumes of the mines for a long time that pulled them in. Perhaps sleeping in SH is like sleeping in the snow. You can walk around the town for a short period with no ill effects, but going to sleep will pull you in for good.

My guess is that it was simply being in Sharon’s presence that caused them to cross over. Sharon was connected to Alessa, so being with her at night, in Silent Hill, while she was asleep, was what triggered their crossing over.

Q. At the end, why didn’t Rose and Sharon return to the real world? They left Silent Hill, but the darkness was everywhere once they left town.A. Remember that during the final moments when Alessa was slaughtering all the cultists with her barbed wire tendrils, Rose told Sharon to close her eyes. Sharon peeked, and when she opened her eye the devil (Alessa) was smiling at her. It seems this let the devil in. This seems like a bit of a cheat on the part of the devil, but works if you accept that her deal with Alessa extended to Sharon. With everyone dead, there was nobody left to torment here. Time to move on and cause trouble elsewhere. When they left town, it wasn’t that the darkness was everywhere, it was that it was following them. It was centered on Sharon now. However, Sharon hadn’t been tormented. She wasn’t full of anger and a desire for revenge. There wasn’t anyone she really wanted to hurt. It is unclear what would happen next. Sharon and Rose were trapped in darkness, but it seems like there would be nothing to trigger the evil that they witnessed in Silent Hill.

Also, remember that Rose let the devil into herself before going to the church. She came back out later, but still: That can’t be good for you. It is also possible that they got stuck in darkness because of this.

Q: What happened in the end when Alessa was able to enter the church?A: In the outside world, 30 years passed between the time the town was emptied and the start of the movie. It’s difficult to know how long it was for the people in the town, since they seemed to be on a different timeline. In any case, Alessa and the cultists played cat-and-mouse for a long time. She wanted to kill them all, but was only able to nab the slow ones.

She needed a way to get into the church. The devil entered Rose (sort of without her consent, although it seemed sort of harmless) and waited. Rose entered the church and was stabbed. It wasn’t until her tainted blood hit the floor that Alessa had a way in. Now we see their policy of burning witches – while evil and sadistic – was actually useful for fending off evil. If they had burned Rose they may well have remained safe.

Seems like a bit of a gamble on the part of the devil, to count on the cultists breaking tradition and spilling blood. Not that it would have cared about Rose, but chances to get into the church must have been few and far between. It could have improved those odds quite a bit by instructing Rose to bleed a bit once inside.

OR:

Perhaps it wasn’t the spilling of blood, but Rose’s own will. Remember that this devil seems to feed off of people’s lust for revenge. It didn’t just show up and start killing people at random. It had to make a deal with an angry child who wanted revenge, and then use her will for revenge. It couldn’t hurt people she didn’t want to hurt, or it couldn’t hurt people unless she had a real grievance against them. It entered Rose, but it didn’t have any power until Rose wanted to kill those cultists herself.

This doesn’t answer all of the questions, but this is how I managed to map the thing out on my own. Other explanations are possible. Your mileage may vary.

A few notes: it wasn’t just that Alessa was fatherless that was a problem (although that was clearly a big no-no in Silent Hill), but that she was sexually molested by the janitor. They decide to cleanse her with fire to purge her of the sins of being fatherless and of her sexual experience (yes. That’s screwed up).

About the end: Rose made a deal with a demon, but, as I recall (and I could be wrong), that deal was for them to be able to leave Silent Hill- not necessarily for them to get back to the “real” world. I also there are sort of three realities at play- the Real Silent Hill, grey/purgatory Silent Hill, and black/Evil Silent Hill. They’re trapped in the grey Silent Hill, which is sort of the least you’d expect if you’re willing to make a deal with a devil. ;)

Yes she was molested by the janitor….but what i got from this is that because he molested her she had become pregnant. Remember she survived the burning and “the devil/dark side of Alessa” left her baby aka Sharon at the orphanage.

“The girl had nightmares about the town of Silent Hill, although she had never been there.”

I think she was concieved in Silent Hill, however she was born and adopted from an orphanage in a nearby town. See below for more info.

“…Otherwise, most cult members should have died of old age…”

I believe the cultists are already dead, either victims of the “Purification” fire or the following mine fire. Rose says as much when she enters the church while possesed by the demon. In this way, time or their apperent age is not a factor as they are ghosts that haunt the town and are unlikey to age.

This suggests that the police officer, Rose and Sharon died in the crash to allow them to enter the realm of the dead. It is mentioned by the police to the father that many of the bodies from the mine fire were never found so I assume that anyone pulled into Alessa’s limbo physically disapears from the real world. This would explain why the bodies of Rose and Sharon were not found at the crash site.

Which brings me to the point that Alessa must have died of her wounds after making a deal with the demon, trapping Alessa and the dead cultists in limbo so that she could seek her revenge. This would explain Alessa’s ability to manifest the darkness as a ghost aided by the powers of a demon.

I also believe that Sharon was the result of the janitors rape and was saved from the womb of Alessa before she died of her burns. So, Sharon is the baby that was saved from the dying Alessa and then adopted out. The demon takes on the form of Alessa before the “Purification” burns which is why she looks so similar to Sharon…her surviving daughter. The problem with this is though it fits, there is no suggestion of a baby being removed from the dying Alessa.

The only thing that confuses me is why Rose and Sharon remain in limbo at the end of the movie unless returning to thier home, is there version of heaven.

Correct. Sharon is not the daughter of Alessa. Alessa was assaulted in 1974, and Sharon was created somewhere around 1995. Sharon is the manifestation of the good side of Alessa’s soul, just as the evil little girl (Dark Alessa) is the manifestation of Alessa’s dark side.

However near the end when Rose meets the burned Alessa she asks the bad Alessa, “where’s my daughter” In which she replies, “she’s not your daughter! She’s hers” and point to the bed where the burned Alessa is.

Dark Alessa is being metaphorical when she says that (the exact line is “She’s not your child. She’s hers. The little girl is what’s left of her goodness”). Sharon does come from Alessa (as does Dark Alessa), but not by being her daughter. Sharon is just a manifestation containing Alessa’s good side, hence why the director says on the French official site for the film that he hired the actress to play “multiple incarnations of a same character”.

Sharon was born in Silent Hill before being moved to an orphanage in a nearby town, as her mother Alessa was hospitalized there!

Alessa may not have died, but then she would only be kept alive by the demons power. But this would leave you wondering why she was never found by the initial search parties so I think this is unlikley.

There is no reason to believe the demon entered Sharon at the end of the movie, or motive.

I still have no proof that Sharon was born of Alessa as a result of the janitors rape, but damn it fits into the story well…doesn’t it?

It says outright in the movie that Sharon was the goodness still left in Alyssa. Side note: the movie completely messed up the original storyline from the game. Dahlia burned Alyssa alive in the house because Alyssa didn’t want to give birth to the cult’s god, which she was pregnant with at the time. That is why she didn’t die from her wounds and why they kept her in the hospital basement. She was to be kept there until the time came for her to give birth to this demon god of theirs. Some of the hospital staff were a part of the cult, and did what they were told on threats that they would be cut off from the drugs the cult had all it’s members hopelessly addicted to.

Nope, Dark Alessa is not Satan, or any form of Christian being. The idea has been debunked by the director in his commentary on the French Blu-Ray, and the actress has also debunked it in various interviews. She is the incarnation of the dark side of Alessa’s soul, nothing more, nothing less.

i think she might of been waiting (maybe for 20 yrs) in the hostpital her will slowly leaving her untill she was weak enough for the devil to take her soul and push out the good in her soul, bang there is a baby* out side the orphanage.

Alessa was only in the hospital for a few hours before Dark Alessa came to her. The town was abandoned the same night she was burned because of the fire, so there would be no one to tend to her if she had still been there years later. What happened was that her pain was so intense that she split into “several Alessas” (director’s words), and was approached by “her evil side”.

I thought the same thing: That Sharon is Alessa’s daughter with the janitor. The only problem is that Alessa became pregnant before the fire (more than 30 years ago) and Sharon is only ten. This really bothers me about the timeline. If they had just made the disaster 10 years ago the movie would make a lot more sense.

The only problem with them dying in the crash is that you would think their SUV would stay in the real world. Although, if you’re willing to accept the SUV entering the nighmare world then you are right: It makes sense that they all died in the crash.

Your right, didn’t even realise and it blows my theory out of the water. So what is the origin of Sharon? A physical being materializing from a ghost world years after the ‘cultist vs Alessa’ limbo was created. Now I’m just confused. :)

The grey, ash-covered Silent Hill is purgatory. The zealots, who are dead but don’t know it, set events into motion when the burned Alessa, an innocent, which is why the chains broke on her grill(?); as the movie states “their weapons were used against them.”
Now some plot holes are exposed here: 1.) Alessa is first tormented by her schoolmates because she is an illegitimate child. Fleeing her tormentors, she isolates herself, and is molested by the janitor, Collin. It’s implied that she becomes pregnant, and when questioned, Dahlia, Alesssa’s mother, cannot name the father. The zealots then assume the unborn is a demon spawn and decide to “purify” her. Dahlia does not realize that they intend to burn her, but does little to stop whatever action they intend to take (which is why Dahlia is trapped in purgatory SH with the others, but not punished to the same extreme, she must live out the existence she ‘condemned’ Alessa to). 2.) The fire that starts during the Alessa burning seems to be the fire that split SH into real and purgatory, but that cannot be, since what’s left of Alessa is rescued and suffers in a hospital. So it is to be assumed that when the demon girl manifests itself from Alessa’s pain and hatred, this transformation (the part where the demon-incarnate touches the curtain and all turns to ash) is the real fire that destroyed the town. 3.) So now, the question is, where exactly does Sharon come from? This hole seems to be from just laziness by the screenwriters. If Sharon is Alessa’s baby, then why is she only ten 30 years later? And if she is not Alessa’s baby, then where did she come from? 4.) It’s hinted that Cybil (the hot cop) was killed when she wrecked her bike. But they never implied that with Rose and Sharon. But obviously, in order to enter purgatory, they all must have died.
Now it does make sense that at the end, when Rose agreed to take the demon with her to the church, she was deceived, since the devil does a good job of screwing and double crossing everyone i.e; “Bedazzled”. So she agrees to let them out of SH, but doesn’t tell them that they are already dead. So I would guess that it isn’t that the evilness of the town following them, but that the puzzle has been solved and now they can go ‘home’.
A few other questions: Why do the creatures suddenly appear, attack Rose and Cybil, but then suddenly retreat? My guess is that the darkness lies in wait for the zealots to leave the Church, then creeps in when it feels someone’s presence. If it catches one of the zealots, it kills them, put it seems to retreat once it touches Rose or Cybil (where is Sharon this whole time? Only shown once, when she’s captured) I guess because it recognizes that they are ‘good’ and must survive in order to carry out the intents of revenge. But then there’s the nurses. But whatever. Hope this tangent helps!

The cop who saved Alessa and the one who helped Chris are the same person. That’s why he has burns on his hands.

Also, the post you’re replying to is wrong about basically everything. The Fog World is not Purgatory, Alessa was never pregnant, Sharon is not Alessa’s daughter, Dark Alessa is not a demon, the coal fire was not caused by Alessa making the deal with Dark Alessa, the cultists did not die to enter the alternate reality, Rose, Sharon, and Cybil did not die to enter the alternate reality, and Rose and Sharon/Alessa are not trapped in the Fog World because they’re dead (seeing as they’re both very much alive at the end of the movie).

Why do you think they’re alive at the end of the movie? I think the idea of them being in purgatory fits well since they go home and its still all ashy/fog world like, and they keep cutting to scenes of the living/real world where the dad is and its all in color and not ashy/fog like.. if rose and sharon are alive, why do they (the dad, and rose/sharon) just happen to not see eachother even though they’re all “home”?

Everyone in the alternate reality is alive until Alessa kills them (or, in the case of Cybil, until the cult kills them). This is proven by director quotes, the aging of the characters, Alessa’s police reports, and Officer Gucci twice mentioning there is a difference betwween those who get dragged into the alternate reality, and those who die. The alternate reality is also not literally Purgatory, it’s just an alternate world created by an angry child gifted with psionic powers. Because she controls the world, she decides who can come and go, and she doesn’t want Rose to leave.

I think they are dead at the end. There’s the part where her husband is looking for her in SH and they show him in color walking past some buildings, then they show her, foggy, running past him and he smells or senses her. They are in the same place at the same time, but in different levels?…spheres. So the mother and daughter return home and will live (as ghosts?) in their home along side the husband/father without any of the 3 knowing of the other.

Yes they are dead… and yet the fog follows and they are the only two left in the world. they go back to their home and don’t see the father even tho he is sitting there. They can’t see each other because they are in different worlds. Life and Death… what I wrote seemed a bit poetic.

The plot draws heavily from the game. Although I’ll admit I’d never considered Sharon being Alessa’s baby, having played the game I assumed that Sharon was a physical manifestation of Alessa’s goodnesss. Regardless, I can’t say how 30 years passed. Alessa is clearly young, but not as young as she was when she was burned. This is also inferred from the game, where Alessa is currenly around 14. One can assume she survived her burning but eventually died, perhaps in the same fire that killed the townsfolk (I can’t remember if the movie clarifies what happened to her after she was burned). I do not think that Sharon is Alessa’s literal daughter; I think that Sharon is a regressed version of Alessa herself, manifested either by the demon or by Alessa’s psyche (trauma induced split personality anyone?). In the game Alessa was a powerful psychic as a result of her conception and birth (which is a different backstory I won’t go into). Therefore, being Alessa the time tables can be abstracted. It is possible that Sharon wasn’t created until 10ish years ago, or perhaps the timeflow in Alessa’s world is much faster than in the real world, so that only a year passed while 20 did elsewhere. The problem with that is that it would seem time is passing the same for Rose and Chris throught the movie. I dunno, maybe the sequel will clarify.

edit to the above, I think Sharon is the regressed version of Alessa, created by Alessa’s psyche and given form by the power of the demon residing in Alessa. There is still a problem of why it would take so long for Sharon to appear. Perhaps it took quite a long time for Alessa’s mental condition to deteriorate badly enough to awaken the demon, but the cult seems to have been in the same position since the beginning so that doesn’t make much sense either. I agree with an above poster I think, that the netherworld of Silent Hill is a timeless place that can but doesn’t necessarily parallel real time… it’s the only explanation I can think of. I also think it’s unlikely that the crash killed Rose and Sharon – they didn’t really even crash they just came to a stop and Rose hit her head relatively lightly on the steering wheel. It is possible they died just because of Sharon and Alessa however, who knows. Dark Silent Hill is explicitly stated to be a nightmare world, so I think they were probably knocked unconcious and Sharon’s presence pulled them in. Maybe anyone who goes to sleep in Silent Hill enters it.

One last post, I don’t think they’re necessarily dead at the end…I think maybe that Dark Alessa and Good Alessa “fused” at the end, it seems to they intended us to think that with Sharons’s odd behavior and the demon crawling toward her. The reason Sharon kept dreaming about Silent Hill is because that’s where the other part of her was, she was an incomplete person. Therefore, Sharon/Alessa could be controlling the fog world at the end without realizing it (being centered on her and traveling with her). Or, she could be conscious of it and doing on purpose as per the dark part of her, but this time it’s motivated not by revenge (therefore no nightmare, just pergatory) but by a selfish attachment to Rose and their home, where she experienced love and warmth. Notice that despite the similar aesthetics to foggy Silent Hill, the foggy version of their home at the end seems a little warmer. What stumps me the most is how and why Rose is apparently either ignorant or dismissive of the situation.

OMFG!!!! she’s only nine years old! HER BODY ISN’T MATURE ENOUGH TO BECOME PREGNANT!!!! Dark Alessa says, QUOTE: ” the little girl whats left of her goodness.” this means the demon took all the pure goodnessout of Alessa to make her 100% evil. Colin the janitor did rape Alessa on the encounter of the bathroom but he didn’t get her pregnant. the principle, Christabella knew what had happaned to Alessa (and was probably sickly glad[bitch]) then she persuaded the mother, Dahlia to ‘purify’ her daughter. i think they both (alessa & dahlia) were confused of what that meant.

When I watched the movie, I was given the impression that Alessa was fathered by a demon (or demonic entity, or even the Devil that makes the deal with Alessa later) Dahlia seemed to be a little “off” and susceptible to strong persuasion, so it just made sense to me that perhaps a demon in disguise could have easily won her over. I realize there wasn’t any evidence to support this theory, but for some reason that was the impression that I got and it made some sense to me.

As for the timeline and Sharon’s age not matching up, perhaps after 20 years of hunting the cultists, the Devil decided that it needed to “purify” itself and Alessa of what “good” remained so they banished the Sharon part out of themselves and their realm to become more powerful…

OR!…

…It was all part of this Devil’s plan. Sending Sharon out into the world was like baiting a hook. The Devil knew from the get-go how it could enter the church, so it set everything up for Sharon to find this dedicated and caring mother who would give her life and soul just to protect this child. Rose was just a pawn. The Devil reeled them in (maybe even brought Cybil in as insurance that Rose and Sharon would make it?) and put Sharon in danger and made sure to lead Rose on just the right path to see what the Devil wanted her to see to prepare her.

And as for the ending, perhaps it was the Devil twisting their wish? Rose just wanted to protect Sharon and be with her any way she could, so even after the massacre the Devil let them stay in pergutory/”grey” Silent Hill. I mean there was nothing in pergutory/GSH left to hurt Sharon so now she’ll be safe and protected right by Rose’s side…for all eternity. What mother wouldn’t want that? ;)

OR!…

…After making their deals with the Devil both Rose and Sharon/Alessa had become ‘tainted’ by the darkness so they had no place in the world of Light. Kind of like “You’re one of us now, there’s no going back!” Perhaps in making their deals, they had sold their souls which left them as mere ‘shadows’ or husks so that again, they had no place in the world of Light. vengeance will always leave you empty and hollow.

So do my theories have any merit, you think? I enjoy thinking up justifications for holes or oddities in movies and stories.

Now, in the beginning there was the Cult and Silent Hill. The Cult basically ran Silent Hill. It was a large enough entity that could control the town. Dahlia had been a part of the Cult and for unknown reasons began to deviate. Her daughter, Alessa, now part of the Cult had been a victim of her mother’s circumstance. She was a bastard child, born out of wedlock. It explains this within the movie, “she didn’t have a father like they did”. The scenario of Colin and Alessa is irrelevant and is simply just a way to explain Colin’s demise.

Now, to explain Sharon. Sharon is a manifestation of Alessa’s innocence, so says “the Reaper”. She was manifested at the right time in order for Rose to be summoned to Silent Hill. After all, Rose is the catalyst of Alessa’s hate and anger. This is why the time line doesn’t seem to fit, however, it does. This part of the movies falls in place with the game. Cheryl, from the original game, was manifested at a later time in order for Harry to be summoned to Silent Hill to stop Dahlia.

With all of that in mind, and to answer the biggest question, yes Sharon and Rose are both dead. Sharon never truly existing was just bait used by Alessa. Rose needed to cross over in order to bring “justice” to the Cult. Now, some of you may wonder why Cybil had also crossed over. This is simple: to protect Rose. Alessa could conjure the Dark Silent Hill, but only control certain aspects. The monsters are something Alessa had no power over. You may ask, why do the monsters back off after a while? Well, Alessa could only control the Dark Silent Hill for a period of time.

In the movie, Rose realizes her own death. It is not clearly presented, but she does make it known. She does so by telling the Cultists that they have burned in the fire they created to “cleanse” an innocent child. She goes on to tell them that they are already damned. This was was made apparent to her by the demon, otherwise know as “the Reaper”. I would even venture to say that she is the dark force Samael, however this is never confirmed.

Also, remember that Rose is the key player in this whole story. It stands to reason why she is stuck in “limbo” as some may call it. They present the reason several times in the movie. Rose often repeats, “mother is god in the eyes of a child”. At the end of the movie, Alessa is reunited with the rest of herself, so to speak, and she wants nothing more than to be with her mother and thus is the reason they never leave the foggy world.

As for the bodies, well they are never found for two reasons. One is for the audience to ponder the conclusion of what became of them. Honestly, how fun would it have been if the bodies had been presented? The second reason is that both Rose and Cybil had been pulled into foggy Silent Hill. Detective Gucci mentions that most of the bodies were never found, if you haven’t realized it by now he is referring to the Cultists. Of course he doesn’t mean that deliberately, but it is the truth. As for Gucci, he’s the only thing I can’t quite explain. As time went on, he never aged. Perhaps it was left this way for cinematic value. Who knows.

Remember with Silent Hill everything has to be scrutinized. There are layers that have to be examined closely. The movie makes sense, it just takes some time to understand it all, which is what makes Silent Hill so fucking incredible.

I apologize for this abridged explanation. It’s late, and I’m tired. I hope that this clears up a lot of your questions, or at least allows you to draw your own conclusions. Now, if you think that was a difficult story to make sense of, go and enjoy Silent Hill 2 (video game). The writing is just as amazing and much more constructed as a feasible story.

I agree, that Rose, sharon, and the cop are dead. Evidence that supports this, is when Rose asked the cop why she was bleading, the cop replying, that it may have been from the wreck

Towards the end of the movie, when Rose and Sharon are leaving Silent Hill, they see the cops bike, rammed against fencing on the side of the road, evidently looking as thought it was a possible fatal wreck.

Also, the whole theory upon Rose comprehending that she is dead, doesnt really fly well with me, being, that she calls her husband while heading home from Post reality (a.k.a. Grey Silent Hill). However, when she sits on the sofa, it may appear as though she is staring in space, yet when the scene switches from reality to post-reality, we see the husband is lying on the opposing couch, feeling the presence of his family. It then switches back into the gray world, where it seems as though Rose isn’t staring in space, but at her husband, maybe feeling his spirit too.

But wait wait hold up on something. You mean for over 20 or 40 years the remaining survivers from Silent Hill never attempted to cross or do whatever to get out of there? I know its an illusion of the bridge being broken off and them thinking their stuck there. But they never tried to push a car over or do anything? Because Christanella says “don’t believe your eyes, your eyes will deceive you.” Personally eventhough the “limbo” was happening I would have tried to see if there was another end across the broken bridge. And I personally didn’t understand the movie on some points but now I get it. But what’s cool is that they only went through CERTAIN pieces of the WHOLE Silent Hill, they never went over to the lake or beyond of where they were. I like the whole “Limbo switching” scene where everyone is running towards the church, but I saw that Dahlia was outside during the “Limbo”…and u guys said that Alessa cannot control the creatures, so do they hurt Dahlia or what??? PLEASE answer me back.

No, They Don’t Hurt Dahlia, I Personally Believe That Alessa Does Have Control Over Them. At Some Point She Realized Her Mother Was A Pawn, And Was Just As Confused As Alessa About The Ritual And What Have You. Why Else Would Everything Walk Right Past Dahlia?. The Red Pyramid Didn’t Kill Her. And Alessa Herself Didn’t Kill Her In The End, When She Damn Well Could Have. Everyone In The Room Gets Killed, Accept Sharon, Rose, And Dahlia. To Me That Means Shes In Complete Control, And Just Let The People She Felt Weren’t Responsible Live. Thats My Opinion anyway.

As far as the monsters not hurting Dahlia goes, in the games the alternate realities and monsters are manifestations of Alessa’s tortured mind and subconscious. They’re not necessarily controlled by her – the subconscious is not something we can consciously control – but tend to have the same wishes and abide by the same desires for others’ harm/safety as she does.

In the film they talk about the apocalypse that occured, so they probably assume the rest of the world is gone, save for them and their religion.

No questions can truely be answered, for it is only a movie and there is no full reality to be hidden, only what you can infer. If you really want to understand where the writers came up with alot of this, I strongly urge you to play the original series! It leaves your head spinning a hundred times worse.

Simple, and mentioned in earlier comments. Rose did a deal with the “evil Alessa”/”Demon” to leave Silent Hill. She didn’t specify that she wanted to be in her reality, rather than the dark/grey/foggy/ash one, though, so the demon let them cross the bridge out of silent hill but in the wrong reality.

I actually really like this idea. I liked the movie a lot, but as a fan of the games I was a bit annoyed at how they changed certain things. Like Alessa getting raped, Idk why thy had to throw that in there, other than to confuse people. Also, to the OP, I don’t know why you said all of the characters are new. They’re NOT-Christabella is in the games, so is Cybil, and Dahlia…and Sharon is Cheryl, but they’re def the same character. It’s the mom looking for her daughter instead of the father, so she’s new bc in the game she’s dead (of cancer), but apparently the person who made the role thought Harry’s (Christopher in the movie) role was that of a woman; a mother (bc apparently when a couple’s child goes missing, the father isn’t as interested in finding him/her as the mother is.). So not all the characters were new, in fact almost all of the mmain characters were from the game. I was never really sure of what happened at the end of the movie, I’ve had a few ideas about it, but I’d pretty much decided that the producers or writers or whoever just wanted an eerie ending, and it kind of seemed like they couldn’t make up their minds. Cybil’s bike was crashed at the end, like she’d died…but the car seems to be okay. Idk. It does kind of seem like they died in the movie, but in the game that’s absolutely not what happened, so I HOPE they wouldn’t stray so far from the original. (But then again, they threw in the witchcraft bit, Idk why they did that, and the rape, which really was unnecessary. I know they were trying to make Alessa’s pain understandable, but if they had just followed the story of the game-Dahlia set fire to her home with Alessa inside as a sacrifice, and they were using her body as a vessel to birth the demon Samael-their God. It wouldn’t have been hard to do that rather than say the cult thought she was evil and a witch. Idk why they changed it., that annoyed me. Maybe they thought cults killing witches was more believable than a cult trying to bring their demon god to the world. Ok I’m rambling now, I just don’t understand why movies feel the need to stray so far from their original sources. I guess it’s worse when it’s a source I’ve loved for YEARS.)
Back to my point that at the end of the movie Rose and Sharon are NOT dead- now there’s proof. A sequel. Now we have Silent Hill: Revelations. If you’ve seen it, you know that Sharon (now using the name Heather) is NOT dead, and she and her father have moved around a lot to make sure the order didn’t find them. The mom is dead, however. I have to watch it again bc I don’t really remember if they explain that, but I’m almost positive that she died of cancer. So in the sequel, Sharon is alive, therefore she didn’t die at the end of the first movie. I don’t know. I kind of get the feeling that the prooducers didn’t know what exactly they wanted to do with it, and they just threw the ending in like “we need to make sure people are discussing it after the movie is over,” which worked ovbiously bc its almost 7 years later now and I’, posting on a forum about it. If you haven’t seen Revelations, def see it, ,bc it’s much more true to the game mythos, and it’s very similar to SH3. I loved it.
Anyway I read through this whole post (getting aggravated a few times bc I know a lot of people haven’t played the games and they’re arguing things like “Sharon is Alessa’s daughter from the rape..” I know that actually kind of would make sense if you ONLY saw the movie, but they’re arguing against people who are familiar with the entire story…Idk. I get annoyed too easily I guess. I just want everyone to know how AWESOME silent hill is and even tho I loved the movie, it doesn’t do the game justice. ) So anyway I liked your explanation, yours was the first that actually seems plausible to me and doesn’t go against the mythos. Thanks.

Actually, Christabella was not in the games – her role was created to fill Dahlia’s role in the game, because Gans wanted to compare/contrast Dahlia’s motherhood with Rose’s. Also, Gans wanted a theme of maternity in the film, which is hard to do with a male lead character. Idk, I don’t think the gender should matter since the character’s role and personality are identical to that in the game. I don’t think SHR can be used to prove anything in the first film, since it retconned the mass of the first movie’s story. For that matter, SHR itself doesn’t say Rose died either. Regardless, Rose and Sharon did not die in the first film, but were simply trapped in Alessa’s world. The ending was Alessa recombining with Sharon and then trapping her new mother in the world where she feels the safest.

On a side note, I perfectly understand why the first movie made changes. Just look at SHR, it went out of its way to translate the story as exactly as possible, and had no atmosphere, a ton of exposition, and people who hadn’t played the games had no clue what was going on (which is why IMDb has threads like “Why did god want to rape Heather?”). Gans made the backstory simpler because it would only make for a bad film if such a massive story is stuffed into 2 hours. As it is, people were still somewhat confused, but that was because of the massive amounts of symbolism, and not because he tried to force too large a story into too small a timeframe.

Well, the reason as to why they don’t want to leave Silent Hill is because of the fact that Christabella has gotten everyone to believe that the world is in an apocalyptic time, and so, they don’t try to leave because whats the use of leaving the place? And why leave when the devil is out to get you every 30 minutes and you only know of one place that can 100% protect you? Well, until the devil can enter.

I wanted to answer a bit of Mastroianni’s post about the cultists escaping: the Church seems to be the only place they know of where Alessa can’t get to them. Since this cult seems to be fairly unknown to the rest of the world, where else would they go? And who’s to say there aren’t worse things outside the city limits?
On another matter, I ran with the idea that Sharon is not only bait to lure an “innocent” into Silent Hill, but that it’s happened once or twice before (which may account for the time gap); twice before Sharon’s ages into proper bait between nine and ten, or once if Sharon is fourteen (as a previous post indicated). My guess is that the initial effort(s) ended in failure, and only this time around did Alessa acheive her revenge.

Mastroianni’s Question: I like the whole “Limbo switching” scene where everyone is running towards the church, but I saw that Dahlia was outside during the “Limbo”…and u guys said that Alessa cannot control the creatures, so do they hurt Dahlia or what??? PLEASE answer me back.

My response: I think Alessa does have control of the creatures. I do not think the creatures hurt Dahlia…just like they really did not hurt Sharon and that cop. Sharon and the cop just got caught up during that shift of darkness but were never hurt by those creatures. Plus, in the movie, they said “a mother is like God in the eyes of a child.” Dahlia was Alessa’s mother, so she wasn’t going to hurt her mother. And Dahlia didn’t go inside of the church because she didn’t want to be inside with all those cultish people who betrayed her and Alessa.

I wouldn’t say that Alessa had any control over the monsters, Pyramid Head isn’t manifested by Alessa, it was instead manifested by James Sunderland, because of his unfulfilled desire for punishment for what happened to his beloved Mary, although I don’t know why he rapes things. And since Alessa CAN control the amount of time the “Darkness” can be, she just shortened the time in order for Pyramid Head to stop harassing Cybil and Rose.

This is the movie we’re talking about, not the games. In the movie, Alessa has complete control over all the monsters, as she was the one who created them. James and Mary do not exist in the movie’s canon.

Not to fully disagree with you, but while I totally agree that this has nothing to do with James Sunderland, in many of the Silent Hill products, Silent Hill has a collected conscious. Firstly, (in reference to the second game) Jame might have been the reason Pyramid Head was manifested, but while its psychological form is representing his own guilt and frustrations, its physical form is very very reminiscent of the right hand of God, Xuchilbara, or “The Red Pyramid”. The problem with this is that James did not know about The Order or their deities, so how could his alone manifest his subconscious self in THAT image? Sensible answer would be Silent Hill possesses a collective conscious. Meaning that while Allessa is the source of (literal) nightmare fuel, the town or Samael, are the beings putting it into motion.

That might not seem like an actual conclusion, except for the fact that The Order will be making a debut in the second movie. According to Order mythos, Xuchilbara is judgment. Which makes perfect sense as to why he doesn’t attack Dahlia. She is not guilty/has no guilt, while the cults members do.

Remember the scene where Dahlia was getting stones thrown at her outside of the church?
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
“A man will be judged in accordance to how he judges.”
Not saying these are 100% relevant, but since The Orders beliefs came from a mix between native American and Christianity, it seems to hold some truth to The Red Pyramids methods of judgement.
Why does he look taller and more bestial in the movie? Easy. Because of the collective conscious thing.
He is created by Allessa, and The Order, out of the janitor, and and Xuchilbara, in such a way where Pyramid head is a combination of a judge and a rapist. (Movie pays homage to this by relieving that the actor who played Pyramid Head was the same actor who played the janitor.)

So while The Order didn’t show up at all in the first movie, their influence, or probably more so the influence of Samael, whom they do/will unknowingly worship, are seen in the first movie.

I’d just like to put my spin on things. Several people have expressed confusion over the fact that the baby Sharon that was brought to the real world was done so about 20 years after the destruction of the real Silent Hill and the creation of the grey and black Silent Hills. No one seems to have drawn the connection that since no one else aged inside the grey and black Silent Hills, that obviously the baby wouldn’t either. So, it is entirely possible that this baby is Alessa’s actual child. Also, “Hannah THE TRUTH!! Says:

January 16th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
OMFG!!!! she's only nine years old! HER BODY ISN'T MATURE ENOUGH TO BECOME PREGNANT!!!!

Sorry to tell you, but preteens get pregnant everyday. Young girls are fully capable (without going into too much detail) of starting their cycles at that age. And if the cycle has started, the can get pregnant. I believe that she did get pregnant by the janitor Colin when he raped her in the bathroom.

I also disagree with everyone being “dead” in the grey and black Silent Hills. Dead people do not need food! The creepy fanatical daughter of one of the churchfolk was gathering food for her mother in the hotel when Rose and Cybil were trying to find Room 111. I think that the real-life fire in Silent Hill was a diversion to take the people who hurt Alessa into the grey and black Silent Hills. Since most people’s bodies weren’t found anyway, the fire was the perfect distraction. Also, ghosts don’t bleed or rain chunks of flesh and bone if they are ripped apart. I believe that all of the people, including Rose, Sharon and Cybil were taken full-bodied into Silent Hill, thus explaining why their bodies were never found. It’s because they were still using them!

As far as the ending goes, I’m as confused as anyone. Sharon was acting funny…staring at the camera weirdly. Rose was acting funny as well, stupidly staring off into space with a smile on her face. I realize she was staring into the direction of Christopher, her husband, but she obviously couldn’t see him. The only thing I can think of is that the Dark Alessa (demon, devil, whatever the hell it was) joined with Sharon as she was creeping toward her during Alessa’s revenge. As Dahlia mentioned at the beginning of the movie, only the “dark one” controls who goes in and out of Silent Hill. So, maybe the Dark Alessa expanded the boundaries of the grey Silent Hill. Whatever she did to expand it, the world was brighter, I would assume because the Dark Alessa was mixed with Sharon, but not as bright as real life. Maybe there will be a sequel and we’ll find that Rose discovers she’s still stuck in the Silent Hill dimension.

Like My Good Man Kibben Said, I Don’t Think Anyone Is Dead Either. Its Purgatory. Also, I Think The Point Of Silent Hill Is, Once You Enter It, You Never Really Leave. No Matter Where You Are, It’s Just Limbo…

You’re right, it technically “could” be Alessa’s child, but it’s not. Alessa explains herself what the baby is, it’s the good part of Alessa’s soul. (In the game the movie is based on, Alessa splitting her soul also makes it impossible for her to give birth to the Oder’s demon god-but I know they say nothing about that in the movie and I’m not trying to confuse anyone. My point in saying this is that if Alessa had simply given birth to a baby, the demon god would have been born. The movie is trying to stay true to the game.) Honestly I have no idea why anyone is arguing this since Alessa explains in the game, and no one ever says she’s Alessa’s baby. I think eeveryone is trying to make too much sense of this. It doesn’t have to make sense to our reality. In silent hill, monsters exist, a cult worships a demon god, people can split their souls…. at the end of the game (and they really do try to be true to the game, they even have a MAP that Rose tries to memorize which I thought was kind of a cool shout out to gamers) Alessa and Sharon (in the game her name is Cheryl) refuse, their souls become one, and she is reborn as a baby. I realize the movie is diff than the game, but bc in the game Cheryl is the result of Alessa splitting her soul, and in the movie Alessa (or the demon that looks like her, bc Alessa is there on the bed, burnt) SAYS Sharon is the good part of Alessa’s soul. NOT HER DAUGHTER. Anyway now there is a sequel, and they explain it more, and they explain that again, now named Heather, the girl who was Sharon is the soul of Alessa, not the daughter. (Also, I know at the end of the movie they seem dead, but I beileve they’re in an alternate reality still…and obvioulsy Sharon finds her way back, because she’s in the sequel. The mom in the sequel is dead, but I think she died of cancer. I think the end of the first film was just the producers wanting to make people think, and talk about it after the movie ended, and watch it again. And it worked, bc…well this whole thread, and some of the posts are from 2006, and some are 2012, and I’m writing in 2013. Anyway I think people are trying to make too much rational sense out of the film, as if it takes place in the world we live in, and the silent hill universe is completely full of magic and the supernatural.

I notice many people saying that Sharon is Alessa’s daughter. But this isn’t true. I searched up multiple Silent Hill characters in silent hill wiki, and I have found out that Sharon is the good side of Alessa, and that the dark Alessa is the bad side of Alessa. (J) June 12, 2010 at 10:58 pm, have said that: “Also, I Think The Point Of Silent Hill Is, Once You Enter It, You Never Really Leave. No Matter Where You Are, It's Just Limbo…”. However, this isn’t true, since in Silent Hill: Revelation, Heather(Sharon) was able to leave Silent Hill. The young Sharon was able to come out from Silent Hill and later when she is older, she was forced into Silent Hill, as in Silent Hill: Revelation movie. Sharon finds Dark Alessa there, and Dark Alessa tries to absorb Sharon, but Sharon fights back with her power, and she was finally able to absorb Dark Alessa. So I think that Alessa doesn’t exist anymore in Silent hill. That’s it~ I am not sure if all of my knowledge is correct, please tell me if I made some mistakes :) Thank you!

The Pyramid Head Just..Is, There Is Speculation That He Is Incarnate Of Negative Thought And Action. The Strange Thing Is He Is One Of The Only “Male Monsters” Accept Colin. In The Game, Pyramid Head Is A Symbol Of Persecution And Grim Justice, An Executioner If You Will..=D

Pyramid head is a monster that manifests in Silent Hill two, as James’ punisher, a reimagining of the executioner he saw in a painting exhibited in the Silent Hill Historical Society during the game. James later realizes that he created his own monster, pyramid head, to persecute himself for his guilt. He was only in the movie as fan service!

In future games there are more monsters that are more male than androgenous or female.

Well, I always thought that the body in the bathroom was the janitor who raped her. Intrestingly enough, the janitor, “Colin,” is played by the same actor as pyramid head. Because of this, and pyramid head’s phallic imagery, I think the janitor was reanimated and transformed by the demon/girl.

all the creatures are like in the game brought to life thru the nightmareish silent hill, it displays your inner most fears and in some cases your own sinths haunting you. Pyramid head was James sunderlands representation of sinths he had commited in the past, in this case killing his wife for respective reasons. In the movie hes in the act of tormentor of the cultists I believe… commanded by the demon/alessa blablabal

Rom,
The woman was a cultist, and therefore a sinner. Pyramid Head basically kills anyone and everyone who is outside the sanctuary of the church, as he is apparently under Alessa’s control. Or is he? What I don’t understand is why he pursues Rose and Cybil throughout the first part of the movie. Alessa WANTS Rose to find her, so that Alessa can enter the church and punish all the sinners at once, rather than one or two at a time outside the church. So is Alessa really in control of PH? Is he a manifestation of Alessa, Rose, or Cybill? One might say that he is simply the punisher and indiscriminately kills anyone who is outside the church walls, but then why does PH not pursue Dahlia (Alessa’s Mother)? It is mentioned (or eluded to) that Dahlia is safe because Alessa would not allow her own mother to die….Then why wouldn’t she also prevent Pyramid head, (and the other demons for that matter) from attacking Rose? Get back to me.

I think that it could have been a kind of test for Rose and Cybill. What good would Rose be if she couldn’t get past everything to get to the devil herself?
Also, infront of the church, it could have been a misleading act for him. He didn’t actually go to kill Rose and Cybill, but rather the girl from the cult, then flung her skin towards the two women in order to decieve the rest of the cult into thinking that the two were there to help, but like others have said, Rose is just a pawn in the demons game.

I think that even though Alessa created this nightmare world, she can’t completely control it. At least that’s how it is in the games. In the games she didn’t do it so much on purpose, but her pain and her hate manifested itself and took revenge on the people who hurt her, but they basically just take on lives of their own. They just attack whoever is close to them. I know that Dahlia and Rose are left safe at the end, but I think that’s because Alessa is physically there WITH them, the darkness inside her is controlling what happens 100%. The rest of the time the monsters just do what they will.

I just wished there were UFOs flitting about from time to time. It wouldn’t need to be in the completed movie, just in a bonus deleted scene in the special features on the DVD. But it would be an interesting addition, possibly adding to the dream-like quality of the realm. Were the UFOs part of Aylssa’s creation, or something else entirely? Plus, inside jokes are always fun in video-game movies.

I think that Alyssa may have died at the age she appeared when Rose entered the room with the nurse toward the end possibly after giving birth to Sharon.

It makes sense that Sharon and Rose would be stuck in the grey Silent Hill after Rose made the unclear deal with the devil Alyssa.

Knowing that the devil Alyssa must have enterd Sharon at the end due to the fact that the phone was all staticy when Rose called her husband, I am, however, curious as to how Rose does not know that she is still in the limbo world when she arrives home. Almost as if having her child back is all that Rose could care about. So that must come back to the deal made with the devil or “most evil part of Alyssa”

The Deal Rose Made With Alessa Is Shallow And Open To Speculation, But The Obvious Reason Is That The Church Is The One Place Alessa Can’t Enter, Therefore She Uses Roses Body As A Host, To Make It Into The Church And Exact Revenge On The Cult

you probably didnt notice, and you probably won’t see thiscomment as it is 5 years after the fact.
THey showed you the flowers at the end because in Rose and Sharon’s reality, when they pull into the drive-way, the flowers/plants aren’t as plently. Implying that there is more life in the real, reality than theirs

Sharon is a manifestation of Alessa’s pact with the devil. Sharon is just used as a bait for Alessa’s plans.

Remember that in the beginning when Rose is stopped Cybil referred to another person who brought a little child into silent hill not too long ago? Maybe this other person was one of Alessa’s pawns. The child that this unmentioned person was with is probably another manifestation of Alessa. As the story progressed, the investigator(the one that arrested Rose’s husband) states that if Sharon and Rose are with Cybil, they are in good hands. To support this fact, the investigator further adds that Cybil had rescued the child that was taken into silent hill not too long ago. However, the person who brought the child there was not found. Perhaps that person failed to help Alessa and was discarded. This would support the reason why Cybil was dragged into the Grey Silent Hill.

This is probably significant because it is referred to in the movie enough times to make it important.

Cybil Entered Silent Hill Of Her Own Free Will, She Didn’t Serve A Purpose To Alessas Agenda. She Rescued The First Kid. And Was Afraid The Same Shit Was Going To Happen. So She Pursued Rose Into Silent Hill.

Sharon is Alessa’s soul. The good part of her soul. She isn’t bait. Here…I know this is for the game and not the movie, but the game is where everything in the movie comes from. It explains a LOT- I played the games and I still learned stuff from reading this (I LOVE the games). The movie follows the first game, and the new one, Silent Hil Revelations, follows SH3. If u check out this web page it will def make u understand the movies much more.

Sharon is both bait AND Alessa’s good side. Alessa appears to create her specifically to lure Rose to Silent Hill. The kid who was dropped down a vent was a boy though, so he has nothing to do with Alessa or Sharon.

I think the point of the 30 year time lapse is more of a horror device then a plot device: something that happened a generation ago can affect the lives of people today and in the future. Makes it spookier to people watching it 20 years from now…though I would imagine that 20 years from now movies will make Silent Hill seem like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

hey guyz remember the scene when rose husband said he knew rose was there coz he smell her perfume? rose her husband and gucci was in the same location but diff. phase, Rose was in dark silent hill and 2 guyz are in real abandoned silent hill. That’s why i believed rose 2gether with sharon and cybil died of the crashed. And alessa let them inside silent hill (by using rose n sharon/alessa’s good side) to start alessa’s revenge to cristabella’s group.I don’t believed in limbo but maybe rose and shron’s spirits remains with alesa since , alessa obviously made a deal with the devil.

Remember that in the beginning when Rose is stopped Cybil referred to another person who brought a little child into silent hill not too long ago? Maybe this other person was one of Alessa's pawns. The child that this unmentioned person was with is probably another manifestation of Alessa. As the story progressed, the investigator(the one that arrested Rose's husband) states that if Sharon and Rose are with Cybil, they are in good hands. To support this fact, the investigator further adds that Cybil had rescued the child that was taken into silent hill not too long ago. However, the person who brought the child there was not found. Perhaps that person failed to help Alessa and was discarded. This would support the reason why Cybil was dragged into the Grey Silent Hill.

I know there was some confusion as to what/who Pyramid Head was. When i was reading the quote above for some reason it struck me that maybe the other person who took the child to SH is Pyramid Head. Maybe failing to help Alessa get her revenge brought the punishment of being pyramid head upon him. Just a thought.

We know that Sharon is Alyssa’s daughter
We know that Sharon was concieved via rape

We dont know if the Janitor is the father… Re Kill Bill and any other drama involving helpless female patients, it is possible an Adult Alyssa was raped while comatose in some long term care facility.

Alyssa’s deal with the devil as it were
was to trap her tormentors in a hell of her own making. She dosent have to be dead to do this… comatose works just as well.

Sharon and her adoptive mother died in the crash, and were caught in the spirit trap that is silent hill. Unable to cross over to heaven, and not realizing that they are even dead (part of why silent hill as hell is so interesting no one knows they are dead), they returned home after everything, to always be with the Husband/Father and yet be forever apart

Just wanted to comment about Pyramid Head, and why he/she/it attacks Cybil and Rose. I think Alyssa must be in control of him. This would explain why he never attacks Dahlia.

Now, why does he attack Cybil and Rose, even though Alyssa requires them to help her? This is probably in order to convince both of them that they are in danger, and force them to seek refuge with the cult. This is an important requirement for Alyssa’s plan of revenge to work. She seems to call off Pyramid Head’s attack at the last minute – he has done enough to scare them. Also, the best way for them to gain the cult’s trust is for them to both believe that they are in danger – they would not be lying.

silent hill is much more better than the silly promoted messed up Avatar.
silent hill is the best and the most impressive movie I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I always say”wash your mouth before speaking about silent hill film”

everyone is talking about how sharon is the result of the janitors rape.
but it says in the movie that sharon is the only good left in alessa
this means when she made the deal with the devil that sharon was created
and the devil took her to the orphanage so that she could be brought up in a better world
so sharon was a good reincarnation of alessa in a way
and the devil was alessa’s evil.

I agree. Suggesting that Colin and Alessa’s union created Sharon is really grasping at thin air. There is absolutely no evidence in the film to support this theory. Personally, I think the scene featuring the Janitor’s rape is only a tool used to indicate how very alone and misused Alessa was in her early years in Silent Hill. Plus, while it is possible that Alessa would have been able to become pregnant at the age of nine, it is not exactly probable. If Alessa had mothered Sharon, the film woudl have had to address the issue, which it did not…and so…I believe it to be highly unlikely that Colin and Alessa created Sharon.

Well…….
i dont think there dead – theres no way to be sure. As forementioned rose only hit her head “lightly” on the steering wheel. She couldnt of died from that.

However the real reason i think there still alive, as well as my thinking the cultists are still alive – WHERE would they go once killed in the alternate dimension/ purgatory??
I dont see why Alyssa would try 2 kill the cultists all at once – doesnt she want to make them suffer, slowly?
And once there all dead, apparently they’d no longer suffer……

I think that they are trapped in another dimension as thier corpses were not found. This is sort of a punishment for all the evil committed.

You CANT ‘die’ when you’re already dead!!! The cultists must’ve been alive in one way or another, otherwise they’dve been invulnerable mere shells of human beings!
Also why are there some corpses – supposed ‘janitor’ in bathroom
and zombies in gray world – ‘tarp dude’? Why didnt they come along with the other cultists (since everyone in town is assumed to be a part of the cult) and suffer eternally? could this be another way of suffering for them? or could they have simply died in the fire and merely used as elements to magnify the terror felt by the people of alternate Silent Hill?
Silent hill achieved something almost indescribable, and almost unconceivable in any other movie – it felt like a real nightmare. Real nightmares have odd elements (like pyramid head) are unexplained and are somehow much creepier and terrifying than actual scary events (for me, i can handle these events apparently very well, but nightmares, when i do have them rarely are much more freaky)
This movie was kind of like a nightmare brought to film and explained somewhat. Somehow they picked the PERFECT theme for most of the film – it gave a kind of chill feeling of the spine that cannot be described in words, and i feel the movie would be much incomplete without it.
i believe in the (unofficial) Silent Hill soundtrack it is called
25 – Never forgive me, Never forget me. Upon reading all of these explanations of the story the name of this theme almost suits it perfectly. To describe this theme the only two things i could say would be 1) (upon first hearing it early in movie) probably a nuclear crisis of sorts, with the entire town being destroyed, trapped in this evil or something and a world unknown to all – a world of monsters, horror 2) (afterwards, years later now) purgatory/ eternal suffering, a world created to trap sinners but foremostly > an eternal nightmare.

im writing my own version from the beginning. Rose really wanted to help cure Sharon. so she thought she would loss the cop on the trail to SH. now we are at her accident. she wanders off and finds those monsters, they don’t hurt her because the effects are over. Rose goes to her S.U.V and calls hubby for help and afterwords the cop comes.Monster attack, Rose escapes. so Rose runs to the School to find Sharon. she meets the janitor fuck and finds the hotel piece. the janitor fuck chases her. Rose sees the bug monster kill the 3 cult members. anyways skipping to more important part where Dark Alessa talks. “Now The dreams of this life must end and so too must the dreamers within it. (imples to me they are already dead eternal rest? dreaming?) now its the end of days and i am the reaper.” now here is a strange twist. remember before Christabella say “beward the darkness hides in the face of innocent”. The cult is guilty of murdering an innocent child, but they were right about this evil(only after the purifiying) get what i mean? so when she gets revenge Rose tells Sharon to close her eyes of course she opens Reunites the Good with the bad = rebirth of Alessa. its hard to imagine 3 people so think of it this way. You, Your Angel, Your devil, steal your moms money or no to buy Xbox360? Sharon is pure good, Dark Alessa pure evil. Now Alessa has her ying-yang back. she still remember her past, and remembers how good Rose is of a mother. on the way to her car she tells Dahlia “Mother is god in the eyes of a child” and discovers the cop bike had a “fatal” accident. this is when Rose realizes she died. Rose wanted to make peace with her husband so she called. remember earlier how husband notice her scent? or her spirit? well same thing again. you know that supposedly connection between 2 lovers? and the end also helps me futher conclude its the real Alessa and they are dead. the way her eyes are, the camera so focused on that, and her deep breathing.

the human theory of spirits is they live forever so its basically timeless
you can view silent hill by thinking of the (greek) river styx. your stuck from enternal paradise because you dont have 2 coins.
people saying she was pregenat maybe in the game, but not the movie. its obvious Alessa is Illegitmate Child, and the cult wants to know the father of Alessa but Dahlia refuses. so they view her as the devil, but they are the creators of their of demons.

Hi there shamus, I recently started reading your gaming blogs and must say, I love it :D you actually do bring out good points on why you dislike or like any of your topics (be it games or movies) Anyways, i know this topic is quite old, but i’d like to say a couple of things about the movie Silent Hill.

1) You may not have noticed this, but the entire first scene when Rose first enters Silent Hill after the crash is completely taken from the first silent hill game, uptill the point when she finds the demon kids (which in the game happened in an alleway).
2) Sharon, is one half of Alessa (in the movie they describe her as being the daugther) in the game, its actually the good and human/innocent part of Alessa which was seperated so she could be sent elsewhere to be kept safe.
3) In the game, they needed to burn Alessa because the god that they believed in would only come into the world if the vessel it was brought from would be kept in constant pain and torture, and the best way they could would be to burn her.
4) In the game i believe pyramid head was described as being the school headmaster/or the prisons head (both of who i belive were really sadistic)
5) I agree with your theory of how they entered silent hill because of Rose’s close proximity to Sharon.
6) In the game (the first one) they needed sharon to come back so she could be put into Alessa and made as one so that the demon god would be able to come into there world and cause everywhere to become like Dark/Nightmarish Silent hill (and the last portion of the game silent hill 1 has the entire town transformed into the dark and nightmare world.)
Well, i think these points might be completely useless but hope they help you understand the movie better.

Okay, I took the time to read EVERY SINGLE POST here, and here’s my “2 cents” about everything that’s been said.

1. CYBIL IS A SH CHARACTER!!! She’s the cop from SH1!!
2. In the game, “Cheyrl” is Alessa’s daughter (if im not mistaken… haven’t played SH1 since like a year or two ago), but then we get this “Sharon” kid. I do believe that Sharon’s Alessa’s “other half”, and not necessarily her “daughter”.
3. I do believe that Alessa was sexually abused/raped, but I don’t think she got pregnant. Not saying that it was impossible, but I don’t think the cult would allow Alessa to keep the baby in the first place.
4. Saying that, mostly everyone is assuming that Christabella (whatever her name was) was directing “Name the father” statement at Alessa, but she was questioning Dahlia! She was asking Dahlia who the birthfather was. So again, this alludes to the thought that Alessa was not pregnant.
5. The biggest statement: It’s hard to conclude whether they’re alive or not. I WANT TO believe that they’re alive throughout the movie, and I’m going to support this theory. Think about the other SH games. The main character from SH1 *forgot his name… Harold? Chris? lol* Cybil (lol depending on the end you got), from SH3, Heather, etc. they all SURVIVED from the SH universe, and there’s no denying it. At first, I would have thought that Cybil and Rose would have died from the poisonous fumes, but then, so would the other SH characters from the game. And I agree, the ending is CONFUSING!!!!!!!!!!!! *arrrrrrgh* I wish I knew the real answer, but perhaps it’s left up to us how we interpret it. Sharon simply runs to her room, while Rose sits “opposite” of her husband’s spirit. If she was a ghost/spirit, then why was the door open? (And don’t give me that crap about ghost opening doors and shit…)
6. I LOVED THE SH3 THEME SONG “YOU’RE NOT HERE”!!!! Mary Elizabeth McGlynn IS AWESOME!!!! =]

So um yeah… and here’s a few more pointers

– In the SH series (speaking only based on SH1 & 3), the realms are supposed to be a battle between Alessa and that psycho bitch that says *and quote* “You will birth a god, and build an enternal paradise” – crazy blonde bitch. But we don’t see that in the SH movie.
– I saw the movie on Starz, and after they had a mini-interview” with the cast/crew of the SH universe. And they said that the creatures, no matter how insignificantsuch as the cockroaches, were HUMAN!!!! So perhaps, the reason why the people missing were never found was because they were changed to those creatures by Alessa’s nightmareish world. (This coud be backed up because the creature from the beginning of the movie burn up and disappear, which could symbolize the fate of the detizens of the town.)
– I like Apple Pie ;)
– blegh I don’t know anymore…

Few points I want to bring up. Maria died MULTIPLE times in Silent Hill 2. What I see from that is that there is a big picture for Silent Hill and everyone in it is a pawn. The monsters are there to scare people along into doing what needs to be done. Pyramid Head in the games chases and even knocks James off the roof of the Hospital to get him to where he needs to go.

As for them not leaving Silent Hill? Her husband is being called there. She even called him up on the phone. She can’t really talk to him, but the static on the phone and her scent will lead him back someday.

Now I think being damned and being dead are two different things. Silent Hill has this way of leading people to it. Why were they allowed to go back home but it was a foggy version? To lure the husband.

Maria Never Existed, That Was Just James’ Guilt And Suppressed Memories That Created Her, One Thing You Have To Remember About Silent Hill, It Itself Is Alive, And Is Completely Determined By The Protagonists Thoughts And Feelings.

Regarding the Dark alessa character. When director Christophe Gans was asked about her being a demon or possibly the ‘devil’ Gans reply to the interogative was ‘no!’ With Silent Hill your dealing with dopplegangers (a ghostly counterpart to a living person’. Alessa had experianced such abundant torment in her life and out of fear of reprisal decided to keep a majority of her negative emotions internalized. The purification was what finally catylized the Dark Alessa character into existance. Alessa had so much fear, hate, anger, sadness, and rage that built up inside her that a good analogy would be that of a 500 megaton hydrogen bomb (and most people go off as only a stick of dynamite in comarison). When the Cult barbeque’d Alessa alive they inadvertantly compounded another 50 megatons and activated the ‘detonate’ switch. What happened? Alessa’s negative emotions anthromorphizised (personified) and became a seperate entity from Alessa herself and Dark Alessa is born. It’s simple psychological hydraulics!

For what it’s worth… I think that Sharon and Rose may or may not be dead (I vote for the former), and I think it’s possible that this ending was designed this way on purpose… After all, isn’t the catalyst that kicks off Silent Hill 2 (game) a letter from a “dead wife”?
(then again, I haven’t played SH 1 or 2 yet…)

okie i have no comments about the movie itself (i’m reading this because the movie was on tv tonight and i wanted to find out more about the parts where i didn’t know what was going on and came across these postings). i just want to say how amazing it is that the posts have been continuous for 3 years now…quite amazing don’t you think?

Seriously you need to do more research before trying to explain anything about Silent Hill. It is completely too complex to explain without gaming experience. I’ve been playing SH for years and the movie has almost no relation at all to the games other than Alessa and the fact that there is a cult.
In the game Alessa’s dad is suspected to be Dr. Kaufman, not mentioned in the movie. In the game, Dahlia tried to kill Alessa to birth the God but it didn’t work, so Alessa was kept prisoner in a hospital room with only Lisa Garland (nurse with bloody eyesockets) to take care of her.
The reason the Otherworld appeared was because Alessa suffered so much; there was only a demon in the movie to give Christians something to compare it to. Alessa had God in her and was unable to birth Her, so she was locked up alone and miserable. The God allowed the Otherworld to appear to help Alessa escape her private Hell.
Sharon is not the real name..it’s Sheryl. Alessa is the mother of Cheryl and she is also reincarnated as Cheryl. Play SH3, you’ll get it.
No one died and no one is just imagining this stuff. It’s Alessa’s subconscious projecting the Otherworld on the people who are physically or emotionally close to her. This also explains why they were experiencing the effects of SH at home at the end.

Let’s see, I agree with Alexis the most on this. It kind of goes back to Silent Hill 4, he is trapped in the room, and he can see the outside world but thats it, his room and the hole in the toliet are his reality.

I think Sharon or Alessa made the Burned Silent Hill a reality.

I guess the only argument i could give backing up the people saying they are dead is when the Dad takes his mask off and is urged to put it back on, so why didnt they need a mask?

But anywho, i think they are alive and well, Cybil is just a little helper in the movie and happend to be around when Alessa made Silent Hill a reality, right place at the wrong time.

I believe this is true because Cybil rescued somebody from Silent Hill previously and she escaped just fine, but this time its different, which also drives my point home, Alessa created the place.

The scene when all the bodies are being beautiful shredded hints that everyone is still alive, just not in the same deminsion, remember i said Alessa lets people in her little world, well i think she took all the cult members to her little world.

I don’t think Alessa is the devil, i think that is reading too much into it.

It is said that Alessa chooses who can leave and who stays in the Burned Silent Hill. Alessa having being inside of Rose, put a part of her in Rose. Rose wanted to save her daughter no matter what, and letting a nine year old girl inside of her was what it was going to take i guess.

Alessa let her leave the Burned Silent Hill but she didnt let them leave the Burned Reality.

There Not Dead, I Don’t Think Anyway, The Demeanor And Influence Of Silent Hill, Doesn’t Have A Boundary, If Your Involved. Your Involved No Matter Where You Are, Play Some Of The Games, Shit Will Make Somewhat More Sense

There are three versions of Alessa seen in the film (and this has been confirmed by the director and the actress who plays the characters)
Original Body- The burned woman in the hospital bed
The dark side of the soul- The Reaper
The good side of the soul- Sharon

When Alessa’s rage grew out of control, she split her soul and created Dark Alessa, the manifestation of the dark side of her emotions. She then gave in to the dark side of her own soul and created the alternate dimensions.
Twenty-one years later, she created Sharon, the manifestation of the good side of her soul.
At the end of the film, the two sides of Alessa’s soul merge and Alessa is reborn into Sharon’s body with a new mom and a new home. She appears to be quite happy in her new home, suggesting that she is purposefully holding Rose in the Fog World to keep her to herself.
As for the townspeople, they’re not dead. This has also been confirmed by the director. All the townspeople age thirty years and it’s largely implied that Anna was born in the alternate dimension.

Jessica above is absolutely correct. And yes, Rose does know that she is in the alternate dimension and would not go back to the real world to be with her husband (she says this to Christabella – “You’re alone in this limbo, and God is not here”.) That’s the reason why she stares in space after sitting on the sofa not being surprised by the fact that Christopher is not visible to her.

Time has not been frozen in the alternate dimension. People can be born and can die in it. The only people who exist in it are the members of the cult who have been sucked into the alternate dimension by Dark Alessa for the sake of her revenge. The alternate dimension was created by Dark Alessa (“They would all fall into her darkest dreams”). The fire that burns Silent Hill started at the exact moment when the alternate dimension was created which is when burnt Alessa touches Dark Alessa in the hospital. Only Dark Alessa controls who enters and exits the alternate dimension. Dark Alessa wanted her revenge but couldn’t get it cos the cult members took refuge in the sanctuary where she couldn’t enter. She needed someone who could enter the sanctuary. Thus comes Sharon, the good manifestation of Alessa, who is planted in the orphanage by Dark Alessa. So whoever chooses to adopt Sharon would be the one who would help Dark Alessa to take her revenge (“You chose, you chose Sharon.”) When Rose and Christopher adopts Sharon it was destined that Rose would be the one who would help Alessa take her revenge. When Sharon grows older Dark Alessa comes in Sharon’s dreams which ultimately leads Rose to Silent Hill and then into the alternate dimension.

I’m surprised by the fact that this blog has been running for the last 3 years. As far as the movie Silent Hill is concerned, its a different kind of a horror movie. Its a bit difficult to get the story the first time you watch it. Well, the second time u watch it, its pretty simple to understand….

So…I just rewatched Silent Hill with some friends. Trying to explain the storyline to them, they asked some questions I really couldn’t answer myself. Curious, I checked this site out and ended up reading this entire page. Hot damn, great ideas. I’ve kind of put together my thoughts here, take them as you will.

I’ve played and finished Silent Hill 1. Though generally I don’t think I will be comparing the movie to the games at all. While the movie is (obviously) inspired by the games, you can’t fairly draw any conclusions from the games as there are very large differences in the two versions of Silent Hill.

-So first things first, the three versions of Alessa. Alessa was pushed to the point of hating this cult in Silent Hill. Being ridiculed by it’s members for being a bastard child, to a very violent extent. Alessa’s mother, Daliah, wouldn’t tell who the father was. Perhaps to protect someone, or because she was threatened, though it was never clear why. The cultists decide that Alessa’s father must be a devil, and decide to burn her. Daliah is unaware Alessa is going to be burnt but when she is turned away from the ceremony she goes to retrieve the police. Alessa is burned alive, though there is a malfunction and the coals are spread all across the floor, setting the hotel on fire. Alessa is rescued by Gucci. Alessa now experiences constant pain, and feels unparalleled hate towards the cult members. A few years have passed and Alessa’s hate grows more and more every day. It finally gets to a point where her hate manifests. Either born with the assistance of a demon (which would explain why Dark Alessa cannot enter the church), or with simply or own will. Either way, Dark Alessa is born. She starts the fire in the town. Most likely to rid it of all the people she did not want to kill (Gucci, who saved her life). Everyone else was sucked into Dark Alessa’s alternate reality. She attempted to kill everyone who made her life miserable, but the cultists found refuge in the church. Dark Alessa tried for years to kill them but realizing that she simply couldn’t–she came up with the plan to separate whatever was left of Alessa’s innocence and kindness, and manifest it into a child that will one day come back with someone who CAN enter the church. Sharon was born.

-I don’t believe Dark Alessa has control over her dimension. When she created it, she created the monsters to kill everyone who she brought into her world. However when she created it she also gave the monsters the condition to not kill Daliah. As her plan to create Sharon had not yet come to fruition, this seemed ideal to her. Realizing her own creations would be hazardous to Rose when she brought her into her world, she decided it would most likely be best to bring Cybil as well, to help ensure Rose’s safety.

-I believe at the end of the movie Dark Alessa and Sharon joined together. At this point, Dark Alessa/Sharon still controlled the ability to harness this other dimension–though I have a few theories on her intentions.

–#1: My first theory is that for her own reasons, Dark Alessa may want to bring Christopher back to Silent Hill, and that she would use Rose to do so. The theory, though, has little evidence to support it.

–#2: Still retaining Sharon’s love for her mom, she goes into a selfish state and wishes only to be with her. Alone in the world.

–#3: I’m not sure if she ever says so, but as far as I know, she has never let anybody out of her special dimension. Perhaps she can’t? Maybe she can only bring them in, not move things out.

Finally I have a question myself:
-Do the monsters have any sort of significance to the characters? I know one person made a comment stating the the creatures at the beginning were all completely burnt the same way she was. It could be a manifestation of her pain and suffering as a child (would give evidence as to why the creatures are so small).

-The acid spraying guy I thought may have been Alessa’s manifestation of her hate of constriction. When she was burnt she was completely unable to move, and stuck in a hospital for (4 years?). As far as the acid goes…no idea.

-Perhaps the nurses are all part of Alessa’s jealousy. While Alessa was in the hospital over the years she likely realized that her burnt body would never be attractive to anyone, though she was constantly exposed to these gorgeous nurses. That is perhaps why their faces are smeared and non-existent because she didn’t care about who they were. She only hated them because they had something she could never have.

As for Pyramid Head and the bugs…no idea there.

Anyway, thanks for the read guys. I hope I may have shed some sort of light on the movie from my own perspective.

Wow i watched this movie last nite and i was truely baffled but this blog has really clarified a few things for me.
One thing i notice hasnt been mentioned. Perhaps Rose did not die in the car crash. How about she died when she was stabbed and her body healed because she was dead. Plus alessa -the evil personification was unable to survive in a dead body. I also believe that all other members of the cult were dead -refer to the scene where alessa was being burned and the cult members caught fire. It is possible that Alessa was the only one who survived – although severly maimed. This can also be the reason why alessa -evil one could not posess any bodies from the cult only alessa and rose.
As to whether or not sharon exsists or not i am unsure.
But i think this is a fantastic film as it hasnt spelt e=verything out for us. In fact it has allowed one to use their imagination which is rarely done in film.

@ Tuna-
Alessa was not in the hospital for more than a few hours before she manifested Dark Alessa (and it’s been confirmed that there was no outside entity involved). The newspapers at the beginning of the film state that the fire started in ‘late 1974’. Alessa was burned in November of 1974, meaning the fire and the burning are connected. Dark Alessa claimed Alessa was in the hospital for ‘so long’ because she was in so much pain, she probably thought it was a longer time period than it was.

All of the monsters represent either Alessa herself or something she saw or her attackers. The Grey Children represent her burning and isolation, the Armless Man represents her hospitalization, the Janitor represents her thoughts on the man who assaulted her, Pyramid Head is her memory of a painting she saw in the hotel the night she was burned (the scene with the painting was cut, but an official screenshot showing the painting can be found on the film’s website), the Creepers represent the way the cultists swarm over anyone they consider to be ‘different’ and devour them, and the nurses represent Alessa’s memories of the woman who cared for her.
Alessa has no reason to bring Chris into the alternate dimension, as she specifically kept him out and she has fairly high standards for a parent. Since Chris was shown to not care very much for Sharon, there’s every reason for Alessa to keep him away and no reason for her to want him anywhere near her or her new mother.

@ LIDZ-
The police report states that the cultists escaped the fire, so none of them are dead. Plus, Anna was born in the alternate dimension, and all the cultists age.

Dark Alessa cannot possess anyone but Rose because she has to have a willing body to carry her into the church. None of the cultists would have accepted her, and Dahlia was clearly disgusted by her daughter’s actions, which only left Rose.

I’m not sure what you mean by Sharon not existing. She’s a manifestation of Alessa that exists in a living, biological body. She is real and can be seen by anyone who wishes.

The Gray limbo of slightly less dangerous Silent Hill, and especially the gray limbo at the end of the movie, reminds me of any number of older conceptions of the afterlife. I believe that some versions of the Hebrew Sheol, the Christian Limbo, the Nordic helheim, And the Greek Asphodel fields are all basically a grey, washed out approximation of the real world. It fits nicely with the idea that the protagonists died. They were able to free Alessa, and by extension Sharon, from hell, but that doesn’t mean they necessarily get to go back to the world of the living.

It’s also worth noting that no one is harmed by Alessa’s fiends except the cultists. the ash children don’t actually harm Rose, the nurses just hurt each other, and the Pyramid Head eventually gives up. Even the acid spittting mist thing doesn’t hurt Cybil.

Birth, rape, pregnancy, and motherhood are all repeated themes. When the cult leader is killed Alessa’s tentacles enter through her vagina and explode out of her womb. It’s not exactly subtle. Likewise, the dark child disolves into Rose’s stomach, a pretty clear pregnancy metaphor.

Also, Alessa’s personal nurse is interesting. She didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, but was still dragged into hell. This isn’t a happy ending kind of movie, and the supernatural agent is an insane psychic child instead of a just god, but there still seems to be limits and degrees of punishment. In this case, while most of the creatures in the town are truly horrific perversions of human form, the nurse is preserved in her youth and health, her only deformity the loss of her eyes.

I’m guessing that for this specific film the pyramid thing could stand in for the absent father. Dahlia almost seems to call it up on the steps of the cathedral.

The movie also provides an interesting contrast between Dahlia, who does not act to save her daughter, and Rose, who literally braves hell to bring her daughter out. Dahlia is ineffective, but not punished as harshly as the cultists. She’s stuck in sheol, but isn’t harassed by the monsters.

Cybill is also interesting. If I was writing these characters then Cybill would be a lesbian. Dahlia is the mother who couldn’t protect her child, Rose is the adoptive mother who loves her child despite the childs hidden origins, Alessa’s experience of family and sexuality is corrupted by the world around her, the cult leader is the traditional ‘nuclear family’ taken to some nightmarish level, and Cybill is a lesbian. Each of the female characters is some aspect of motherhood and womanhood, Cybill’s being an aspect that society would not allow children. If the cult was a little miffed that Alessa had no father, imagine the fuss they’d raise about a lesbian having kids.

Eitherway, that’s just my read into it, your mileage may very. This is definitely an interesting flick to look at through a feminist lens, given the topics it deals with.

Okay, feel free to kick me if this has been said, but I’ve been reading through comments and I wanna address a few things that annoy me, especially after reading interview’s with the creators and such:

1.] Rose and Sharon DID NOT DIE AT THE START. They were brought into the Fog World by Alessa because she needed them. Why do you think Dark Alessa was the one who walked in front of the car? The whole crashing/hitting head thing is exactly what happened in SH1 to take Harry into the Fog World.

2.] Dark Alessa is NOT A DEMON/THE DEVIL. She is DARK part of ALESSA. A doppelganger, as stated in an interview with director or whoever. She is the darkness Alessa’s soul manifested when her hate grew too strong. Thus, Alessa made no deal with the devil but gave into the dark part of her soul to have her revenge. She always had psychic powers, so it makes sense that she could manifest her own darkness.

3.] Alessa was not impregnated by Colin. This is stated by Word of God. She was molested/raped, yes, but what Christabella meant by “Why you won’t just name the father…” is about ALESSA’S FATHER. Not the father of Sharon. Sharon is not born until 20-something years later because she just wasn’t. And she was called back to Silent Hill when she was because she was now the age Alessa had been at the time the Cult hurt her, and Alessa felt it was time to get her revenge. Simple as that. And Rose was used because, as Dark Alessa said, she had CHOSEN Sharon.

4.] About the creatures attacking Rose even though Alessa needed her: It was to test Rose. To see what lengths she would go to save her daughter. And, obviously, she went to some damn good lengths.

5.] Sharon and Rose are not dead at the end of the movie either. They are merely still trapped in the fog world. Why? I have no clue. But they are alive and well the entire time. Dark Alessa did, however, rejoin with Sharon and possibly take her over, which would explain the odd behavior. Perhaps they’re still in the Fog World because the part of Sharon that is Alessa once again wants to stay with Rose forever, just the two of them. It would make sense. Alessa, in a way, got the loving mother she wanted. Why give her up?

Your theory is right, the only thing that is completely throwing everyone off is this;

Your stuck on the 30 years , and the time line birth and appearance of Sharon. The 30 years doesnt indicate that is when the fire and all the things happened. The 30 years is mearly an idea of how long the poeple, or the cult existed, or the some bad people, as the cop stated, where doing there bad deeds, and purifing, plus the evil alessa states 30 years is just how long the people have not admitted to ther wrong doing… Thus explains why the about 30 year old cop saved alessa,” who would look 60ish now”, and is still close to the same age, when he makes his appearance at the crash scene. That, explaining, in its own, that the actual town burning and events, could have happened, (10ish) years before, the age of sharon. So, nothing confusing, just obvious bad plotting on the timeline, three things throw it off, the convesation in the suv between cop and father, states the fire was in ’74, the fact that they have cell phones, and the new jeep liberty she is driving makes the timeline not add up.

According to the news reports Chris reads and Alessa’s police report, the fire started on November 1, 1974- so yes, it’s been 30 years since the fire started. The Brahams Herald also states this, and so does the official website. In fact, the Brahams Herald says that Rose and Sharon disappeared in Silent Hill exactly 2 days before the fire’s 30 year anniversary, meaning the film begins on the night of October 29th, 2004.

After taking the time to read this entire web page head to toe, and just rewatching the movie to refresh my memory, I will share these observations:

For the confusion of why they are trapped in the fog world in the end: Remember when Rose was entering the school, and as she walked up the stairs there was a quote saying, “The foes of the righteous will be condemned.” I’m assuming because Rose helped Alessa get her revenge, she is damned. But I also think the people deserved it for roasting Alessa. If it is true that they needed her to be in pain and in torture for their god to come, (forgive my ignorance, I never actually played the games. But I very much intend to!) then Rose was going against their God by aiding the vessel to kill all of the God’s followers. But this would suggest that her being trapped int the foggy world is a result of their god punishing her for killing his followers and helping an evil child.

I Don’t Think Shes Damned, Think About It, Are You Going To Condemn The Person Who Helped You Make What You Want Possible? Alessa Keeps Her In Fog, All To Herself, Cus She Loves Her And Her Qualities, Shes Everything Alessa Never Had.

Think About When That Cultist Came After Rose, And Alessa Impaled The Cultist, Turned To Rose, And Smiled. Its Not A Case Of Damnation, Its A Case Of After 30 Years She Found Someone With All The Qualities She Desired, Shes Not Letting Her Go Because Of This